about_If
Short description
Describes a language command you can use to run statement lists based on the results of one or more conditional tests.
Long description
You can use the if
statement to run code blocks if a specified conditional
test evaluates to true. You can also specify one or more additional conditional
tests to run if all the prior tests evaluate to false. Finally, you can specify
an additional code block that's run if no other prior conditional test
evaluates to true.
Syntax
The following example shows the if
statement syntax:
if (<test1>)
{<statement list 1>}
[elseif (<test2>)
{<statement list 2>}]
[else
{<statement list 3>}]
When you run an if
statement, PowerShell evaluates the <test1>
conditional
expression as true or false. If <test1>
is true, <statement list 1>
runs,
and PowerShell exits the if
statement. If <test1>
is false, PowerShell
evaluates the condition specified by the <test2>
conditional statement.
For more information about boolean evaluation, see about_Booleans.
If <test2>
is true, <statement list 2>
runs, and PowerShell exits the if
statement. If both <test1>
and <test2>
evaluate to false, the
<statement list 3
> code block runs, and PowerShell exits the if
statement.
You can use multiple elseif
statements to chain a series of conditional
tests. Each test is run only if all the previous tests are false. If you need
to create an if
statement that contains many elseif
statements, consider
using a Switch statement instead.
Examples:
The simplest if
statement contains a single command and doesn't contain
any elseif
statements or any else
statements. The following example shows
the simplest form of the if
statement:
if ($a -gt 2) {
Write-Host "The value $a is greater than 2."
}
In this example, if the $a
variable is greater than 2
, the condition
evaluates to true, and the statement list runs. However, if $a
is less than
or equal to 2
or isn't an existing variable, the if
statement doesn't
display a message.
By adding an Else statement, a message is displayed when $a is less than or equal to 2. As the next example shows:
if ($a -gt 2) {
Write-Host "The value $a is greater than 2."
}
else {
Write-Host ("The value $a is less than or equal to 2," +
" is not created or is not initialized.")
}
To further refine this example, you can use the elseif
statement to display a
message when the value of $a
is equal to 2
. As the next example shows:
if ($a -gt 2) {
Write-Host "The value $a is greater than 2."
}
elseif ($a -eq 2) {
Write-Host "The value $a is equal to 2."
}
else {
Write-Host ("The value $a is less than 2 or" +
" was not created or initialized.")
}
Using the ternary operator syntax
PowerShell 7.0 introduced a new syntax using the ternary operator. It follows the C# ternary operator syntax:
<condition> ? <if-true> : <if-false>
The ternary operator behaves like the simplified if-else
statement. The
<condition>
expression is evaluated and the result is converted to a boolean
to determine which branch should be evaluated next:
- The
<if-true>
expression is executed if the<condition>
expression is true - The
<if-false>
expression is executed if the<condition>
expression is false
For example:
$message = (Test-Path $path) ? "Path exists" : "Path not found"
In this example, the value of $message
is Path exists
when Test-Path
returns $true
. When Test-Path
returns $false
, the value of $message
is
Path not found
.
$service = Get-Service BITS
$service.Status -eq 'Running' ? (Stop-Service $service) : (Start-Service $service)
In this example, if the service is running, it's stopped, and if its status is not Running, it's started.
If a <condition>
, <if-true>
, or <if-false>
expression calls a command,
you must wrap it in parentheses. If you don't, PowerShell raises an argument
exception for the command in the <condition>
expression and parsing
exceptions for the <if-true>
and <if-false>
expressions.
For example, PowerShell raises exceptions for these ternaries:
Test-Path .vscode ? Write-Host 'exists' : Write-Host 'not found'
(Test-Path .vscode) ? Write-Host 'exists' : Write-Host 'not found'
(Test-Path .vscode) ? (Write-Host 'exists') : Write-Host 'not found'
Test-Path: A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '?'.
ParserError:
Line |
1 | (Test-Path .vscode) ? Write-Host 'exists' : Write-Host 'not found'
| ~
| You must provide a value expression following the '?' operator.
ParserError:
Line |
1 | (Test-Path .vscode) ? (Write-Host 'exists') : Write-Host 'not found'
| ~
| You must provide a value expression following the ':' operator.
And this example parses:
(Test-Path .vscode) ? (Write-Host 'exists') : (Write-Host 'not found')
exists
See also
PowerShell